The choice of a Conservative peer with no direct experience of the higher education sector to lead the Office for Students has ignited claims of cronyism. Other appointments under Boris Johnson have prompted similar claims.
Peerages
The last two rounds of peerages prompted accusations of nepotism and cronyism. In July, Johnson’s list of new peers included his brother Jo, his strategic adviser Edward Lister and the newspaper owner Evgeny Lebedev, whose parties Johnson has attended. In December, Johnson gave a peerage to the Tory donor Peter Cruddas, going against advice from the Lords appointments commission. A Guardian analysis found that almost a quarter of peerages awarded in 2020 went to Conservative donors and close associates or former colleagues of Johnson.
Coronavirus appointments
There has been controversy about opaque processes leading to people with links to the Conservatives or government being put into leading roles in efforts to combat the spread of coronavirus. One instance was the decision to make Dido Harding, the former head of TalkTalk who is a Tory peer, the head of the test-and-trace programme. Another was the appointment of Kate Bingham, the wife of the Treasury minister Jesse Norman, to head the vaccines taskforce. However, Bingham did have relevant business experience as a venture capitalist specialising in biotechnology.
Ambassador to Cuba
Last month the former Conservative MP George Hollingbery, who represented Meon Valley in Hampshire from 2010 to 2019 and was a junior minister, was appointed as the British ambassador to Cuba, a post that usually goes to experienced diplomats. Dave Penman, the head of the FDA union, which represents Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office staff, said the choice “once again suggests that to this government, who you know is more important than what you know”.
Home Office adviser
In December it emerged that Nimco Ali, a close friend of the prime minister and his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, had been appointed in October as an adviser on tackling violence against women and girls via a “direct appointment process”, without open competition or advertisement for the £350-a-day job.
